Romans Map 'Secret' Tunnels to Fend Off Collapse

(Newser)
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Welcome to Rome, where every year more streets and parts of buildings are collapsing into ancient passages that lurk half-forgotten underground. The city's proposed fix: map the labyrinth, detect the weakest spots with 3D scanning, and seal off the worst offenders, LiveScience reports. Successful or not, it may improve on the current approach—of Romans doing the handywork themselves. "The most common way is to take some big plastic bags and fill them with cement and stick them in the holes," says geoscientist Kysar Mattietti.

The tunnels date back to the first Romans, who carved out the area's underground Volcanic rock for building blocks. When the city spread out over the quarries, Romans figured the tunnels would last—not realizing that rock weathers when exposed to air, and later generations would keep digging for more rock. Now some tunnels are so close to collapse that you can actually hear people walking above. And researchers doing the mapping are finding cracks that snake out along passage halls and ceilings. "A crack never stops on its own," says Mattietti. "It always gets bigger." (Read more Rome stories.)

Crap. I left that thing in that one tunnel, and they're gonna make it slightly more difficult to get to. Don't ask for specifics. I only mention it to remind you mortals that greater beings, with looooong histories, still walk among you. In fact, some of you are paying rent to them. And at least one of them is a dentist.